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2008-08-11

Isao Takahata Will Direct the Next Ghibli Film

Hey, what's it with me and all these obvious posts? Ugh, I'm just awful. But I couldn't let this pass without an official post, considering that I've been begging and pleading to my devoted followers....all 100 of you.

Anyway, just to bring everyone up to speed, the next Ghibli feature will see the long-awaited return of Isao Takahata. Specific details of his project are still under wraps, but all should be revealed near the end of the year, if tradition holds. Takahata's last feature film was My Neighbors the Yamadas in 1999. His only animation after that was the 60-second short on Winter Days in 2003. It's been a long wait for the world's greatest film director.

4 comments:

Isao Takahata's film is definitely the most anticipated in terms of unreleased Ghibli material, but it's great to see that two more films are also coming down the pipeline...eventually.

Goro's second crack at the can is one of them, but the other is by "Ghiblies 2" director Yoshiyuki Momose. I'm really interested in seeing what Momose can do with a full-length feature film.

I also wonder if Hiroyuki Morita (The Cat Returns)will ever again direct. Tomomi Mochizuki (Ocean Waves) did an excellent job with his film, but looking at his more recent credits, it seems like he has moved on from Ghibli.

According to the production diary on the Studio Ghibli website, production has begun on a new film directed by Yoshiyuki Momose. Honestly, though I'd love to see him direct a feature (possibly that long-awaited Ghibli adaptation of the Chinese book "I Lost my Little Boy" ;)), I am realistically expecting a Ghiblies Episode 3 Theatrical Short to be paired with Takahata's next film. (Remember at the end of Ghiblies 2--"To be continued...") Just my hypothesis, though, so take it with a grain of salt. According to Ghibli Pres Koji Hoshino, Takahata is finalizing plans for his next film, so realistically we may not see it released until 2011 at the latest, since production has not officially begun to my knowledge and when it does, will probably take a long time. It is supposedly based on traditional Japanese lullabies meant to comfort the babysitters themselves rather than their charges. As for Morita, he's left Ghibli for good. He directed the series "Bokurano" at Gonzo -- I've seen the first few episodes and they're shite.

Yeah, as I was writing my previous post about Momose, I was thinking that it will might it just be Ghiblies Ep.3. Hopefully my thoughts and your hypothesis are both wrong. =)

Unfortunately, you're probably right about Takahata's film and we won't see it till at least 2011. I imagine it will see a Japanese theatrical release in 2010 at the earliest. I would also think that Ghibli will stagger its releases and Goro's next film will be released in a different year.

wow, quite the grammatical screw-up up above, that is supposed to say "it might just be Ghiblies Ep.3", haha.

To make this post somewhat more relevant, the reason I brought up Morita and Mochizuki is because I'm curious about Ghibli's future. Hayao and Isao are both getting up there in age, Momose isn't that young from what I can tell and I would hope Goro isn't the only thing they have coming down the pipeline. It's really unfortunate Yoshifumi Kondo passed away in 1998, he would be 58 this year.

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